Song of Steel
by Karlandra
Summary: Jon has returned to the north with Daenerys and an Army, but he also found somebody that Arya thought was dead…. Gendry/Arya reunion.


A/N: Sorry, just needed to get this out of my head so I can get on with my other writing.

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Arya loved Winterfell in the early mornings, and for the first time in many years she was walking through Winterfell's courtyards beside Jon. There had been snow late last night and the morning frost had given the top of it a thin icy layer causing it to make a satisfying crunch under her boots. Give it an hour or so and the courtyard would be muddy again, many feet having turned the thin snow to slush, then large brooms would be used to push the slush away, but right now… right now it was perfect.

It would be a while before most of the nobles were awake and about, but already Winterfell was alive with servants and soldiers and blacksmiths, there were already muddy lines through the snow, Arya chose her steps carefully, trying to get as many crunches as possible. She noticed a small smile creeping across Jon's face and realised that he must have noticed what she was doing. It was almost like before they had left Winterfell… almost.

"Glad to see some things don't change." Jon muttered.

"I missed the snow." Arya replied quietly. "Braavos is so hot, it made me homesick, but I didn't think there was any home to come back to."

Jon nodded. "At the time I guess there wasn't." He agreed sadly, he kicked at a clump of snow. "I should have never gone to the Wall." He muttered, his voice thick with regret.

Arya stopped walking and looked at him, really looked at him. "At the time what other choices did you really have?" She asked quietly.

Jon stopped as well, he seemed to be studying her as intently as she was studying him. "Is that why you joined the Faceless men?" He asked quietly. "Because you thought you didn't have any other choices?"

"Sansa told you." It was a statement, not a question, Arya watched Jon's expression carefully. "Does it upset you that I'm a trained assassin?"

Jon frowned and pressed his lips together, he seemed to be considering his words. "Yes." He finally replied. "It upsets me a lot. Father would never approve… but…" He shook his head. "I'm oddly proud as well. The Faceless men are considered the best of the best at what they do, I may not approve…" He let his words trail off as if he was unsure of how to finish.

"They are not as dishonourable as you would think." Arya said quietly. "They have rules, their own code, break the rules and you are punished… take the wrong life, you are punished… take the life of the one sent to kill you… the debt is paid and you are free to go."

"Is that how you managed to leave, because you beat a faceless man sent to kill you?" Jon asked, a look of horror on his face.

Arya shook her head. "I didn't beat her, she failed. She had me, I underestimated her, she stabbed me in the gut three times and twisted the knife… her mistake was that she wanted to see me suffer… I managed to break free of her and jump into the water… that didn't stop her though, she found me again… but the next time she underestimated me." Arya closed her eyes for a second. "A woman I had refused to kill, an actress, helped me. She never should have… helping me cost her life. Helping me costs everybody their life… or worse."

"Arya…" Jon looked at her sadly.

"Did you know the traveling crow named Yorren?" Arya asked quietly, wanting, to make her point.

Jon pulled a face. "I met him… didn't particularly like him…"

"He got me out of Kings Landing." Arya said quietly. "Tried to get me home, died for his troubles… he was the second person to die for me…. Syrio Forel was the first…" She shook her head as the memories tried to overwhelm her. Memories of her sword dancing teacher, memories of Yorren talking with her when she couldn't sleep, memories of the Hound begging her to put him out of his misery, memories of Lady Crane… memories of the hopeless look on Gendy's face when the Red Women took him away… she blinked away the threat of tears and started walking again.

Jon followed her, she wasn't walking with any destination, she just needed to walk, to move. Jon seemed to understand, or maybe he just had a lot to think through as well? Yesterday had been strange, Jon had returned with Daenerys and an army. Arya hated the formalities but she had struggled through. It had been late before the Stark's had any time to talk privately, Bran had seemed distracted, even more so than usual, and there had been a sadness to him every time he had talked to Jon, he'd asked Jon to speak with him privately when possible then excused himself. And there were things that Sansa had needed to discuss, so Arya had given Sansa the evening and asked Jon to take a morning walk with her today. Walking beside Jon now, this was home.

She found herself listening to the blacksmiths hammers as she often did, she had learnt to identify each smith by how they worked. But today there was a new hammer, one that swung faster and harder than the others, one that made the metal sing… she felt her breath hitch in her throat, it couldn't be?

"Arya, Arya what's wrong?" Jon asked with concern.

She suddenly realised that Jon had been trying to get her attention for some time, she must have stopped walking when she heard it. "Did you bring a new blacksmith back with you?" She asked him.

"I, yes, how did you know?" Jon frowned.

"Listen," Arya said quietly she waited but he only looked at her and frowned. "Jon, listen, each hammer has it's own rhythm, if you try you can tell them apart. Each blacksmith hammers differently and today there is a new rhythm."

Jon frowned. "It just all sounds like hammering to me."

Arya rolled her eyes. "Mikken would turn in his grave to hear you say that. Try Jon, close your eyes and listen."

Jon obeyed, he closed his eyes, Arya noticed that his breathing slowed as he concentrated. "Okay," He muttered after a while. "I think I'm starting to tell them apart, what am I listening for?

"Your new blacksmith is very strong." Arya said quietly. "And if he can keep that pace up all day he is very fit as well. One hammer is faster, more rhythmic, it strikes heavier than the others… he makes the metal sing…"

 ** _"Oh, you like picking on the little ones, do ya? You know I've been hammering an anvil these past ten years, when I hit that steel it sings. You gonna sing when I hit you?"_**

"Did your training in Braavos teach you that?" Jon asked, drawing Arya out of the memory.

Arya shook her head. "No, I mean yes, it made me better at it I guess… but before Braavos I had a friend who was a blacksmith… he could make the metal sing like that… I could find him among the other smiths just by listening..." She could hear the sadness in her voice.

"What happened to him?" Jon asked quietly.

Arya lowered her gaze to the ground. "I asked him to come with me and serve Robb, but he wouldn't, said he was done serving, he thought he could do more good joining the Brotherhood without Banners. He believed Beric Dondarrion's lies and wanted to follow him because they choose him as their leader. Then Beric sold him to the Red Woman for two bags of gold." She swallowed thickly and told herself that she wouldn't cry but the memory hurt all the same.

"The Red Woman? Melisandre?" Jon asked surprised.

"You've encountered her?" Arya asked bitterly, Jon nodded. "I'm going to kill her." Arya said quietly.

"You might want to get behind Ser Davos on that one." Jon muttered.

"No." Arya said firmly. "He'll have to get behind me." Without another word she turned to follow the sound of singing metal, she needed to prove to herself that it wasn't Gendry. She closed her eyes as she got closer, not wanting to spoil the illusion, and listened to the metal sing. Finally she made herself open her eyes, but she still couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. "Gendry."

The word was a whisper and Gendry was too engrossed in what he was doing to hear her. He was always like that when he forged, nothing existed but the metal and his tools. He was taller now, and his shoulders had gotten even broader, she leant against a barrel and studied him while he worked. She felt Jon come up beside her.

"Ser Davos saved him from Melisandre." Jon said quietly. "I didn't realise he was your friend or I would have said something."

"I thought he was dead." Arya whispered back.

"He should have been." Jon replied quietly.

They watched Gendry work for another few minutes before he noticed them. Gendry looked up at them and suddenly his hammer faltered. "Mi'Lady." He said with a nod, his eyes then quickly moved to Jon. "Lord Snow."

"Gendry, why don't you join us for breakfast? It seems we have a lot to talk about." Jon invited.

"I-I wouldn't want to intrude." Gendry stammered. "Besides, there's a lot of work to do… your other blacksmiths aren't very well trained… no offence."

"None taken, and you wouldn't be intruding." Jon replied. "Although I am a little curious as to why you didn't mention that you were Arya's friend."

"I thought she was dead." Gendry said quietly. "And if she was dead it was my fault for leaving her alone."

Arya watched as his brow furrowed in pain and guilt, she needed to stop that. "Please," She muttered. "I saved your life more times than you saved mine, don't forget who got us out of Harrenhal."

Gendry nodded. "True, mi'Lady, I was far safer with you at my side." His words were soft, as they had always been, and that teasing half-smile was starting to tug at the corner of his mouth, albeit subdued.

She suddenly realised just how much she had missed him, not that she would ever tell him that, instead she rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you, don't call me a lady." She muttered shaking her head.

His smile became a full out smirk. "As mi'Lady commands." He replied with a small mock bow.

She groaned. "Stupid bull." She muttered, she turned to head towards breakfast, ignoring the sound of Jon's laughter. They could both catch up, she didn't care. Behind her she could hear Gendry talking to Jon.

"You know, the first time I called her a lady she pushed me, making me trip over a rock, and kicked me." Gendry said with amusement.

Arya spun around at that. "I was pretending to be a boy and hiding amongst people heading to the Wall." She snapped. "If anybody other than Yorren had heard you I could have been killed or worse. Half of them would have handed me over to Cersei in an instant, the other half would have raped me first, did you ever think of that?! Stupid bull!"

Gendry and Jon both sobered at her comment. "I never would have let that happen." Gendry assured her.

"Yes, but I didn't know that then! You think it's funny? Do you have any idea how scary it was deciding to trust you with my name?"

"Mi'Lady, Arya, I sorry. I didn't think."

Arya moved closer. "I've spent the last three years thinking you were dead at the hands of that witch, then you show up here, and you make no effort to let me know you're alive. The only reason I even realised you were here was because nobody can make metal sing the way you do! Do you have any idea how many nights I lay awake planning how to revenge what was done to you? How many times I asked myself if I could have taken all of them?" She was in his face now. "Do you have any idea how much I missed you?!" She couldn't stop the tears this time, before he could respond she threw her arms around him and started sobbing.

He hesitated for a moment then wrapped his arms around her. "Shh, shh." He whispered. "I didn't mean to upset you. I missed you too." He rubbed her back as she cried.

Slowly the sobs lessened and she pulled back. "I was being serious when I said I could be your family." She said quietly.

He wiped away some of her tears. "And I was being serious when I said you wouldn't be my family, you'd be my lady." He replied, his voice gentle.

Arya wiped the rest of her tears away. "I'm not a lady, Sansa's a lady, I'm a soldier." Yet even as she said the words some secret part of herself loved the way he called her mi'Lady, how he said the word so softly, almost like a caress.

Jon cleared his throat. "Now I feel like I'm the one intruding." He muttered. "Why don't you two catch up over breakfast and I'll distract Sansa so you can talk in peace?"

Gendry looked uncertain. "People might get the wrong idea." He muttered.

Jon nodded. "I'll walk with you most of the way, besides, I doubt Arya cares what idea people get." He slapped Gendry's shoulder and nodded towards the family wing. "This way."

~~ _FIN_ ~~


End file.
